At our January meeting we discussed the work of Barbara Kingsolver, with contributions on the novels Demon Copperhead, Unsheltered, The Bean Tree, Lacuna and The Poisonwood Bible, and also her documentary account, Holding the Line.

We decided that all of Ms Kingsolver's work contains an element of "triumph over adversity". Set in the United States, Mexico and Africa, her stories are very much concerned with inequality, social injustice and societal bias against the already disadvantaged. Sometimes these themes make for uncomfortable reading, but the reader's experience is balanced by the author's wonderful turn of phrase, acute and witty insight and the deserved triumphs of some of her characters.